Associated Press, Friday June 25, 2004
Rights groups denounce U.S. indictment of Papua man over
American deaths
By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) Human rights activists on Friday rejected the U.S.
description of an Indonesian man accused of murdering two American schoolteachers
as a separatist rebel.
The rights groups said Anthonius Wamang, far from being a member of the Free
Papua Movement, has close ties to the Indonesian military, which is fighting the
insurgency in the remote West Papua province.
A U.S. grand jury indictment charges Wamang, 32, with two counts of murder, eight
counts of attempted murder and other related offenses. Wamang, who remains at
large, could face the death penalty if convicted.
John Rumbiak, a Papuan human rights activist who is living in exile in Sydney,
Australia, called Thursday's indictment a "very naive attempt to scapegoat the Free
Papua Organization.'' Rumbiak fled Papua in 2002 after receiving warnings that
Indonesian army death squads were looking for him.
According to court documents, on Aug. 31, 2002, nine schoolteachers and a
6-year-old child were returning from a picnic near the town of Tembagapura when their
two sport utility vehicles came under heavy gunfire.
Killed were Rickey Lynn Spier, 44, of Littleton, Colo., and 71-year-old Leon Edwin
Burgon of Sun River, Ore. Seven of the eight survivors were seriously wounded.
The victims were all contract employees of the Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold
Mine Inc., which operates the largest gold and copper mine in the world in the Papua
province of Indonesia. Some 9,000 people work there.
Police initially blamed special forces troops for the attack, which occurred on an
isolated mountain road guarded by numerous army checkpoints. But the military
brass denied the accusation and assumed control of the investigation.
Since then, FBI agents have visited the ambush site and collected evidence provided
by the security forces.
Earlier this year, U.S. officials said they were convinced that the Indonesian military
had played a role in the ambush, which they attributed to a dispute over money.
The victims were all contract employees of Freeport.
Karen Orenstein, the Washington coordinator of the East Timor Action Network, a
human rights group, said the attack on the schoolteachers bore the hallmarks of a
special forces operation.
"The Indonesian military had a long history of using proxies to do its dirty work,'' she
said.
In 2001, a special forces squad assassinated Theys Eluay, Papua's leading politician.
Other units have been involved in attacks on civilians in the province.
Edward McWilliams, a former senior U.S. diplomat in Jakarta, said, "If we go after the
Free Papua Movement, we're basically conspiring in a cover-up.''
Thursday's announcement coincided with a decision by a U.S. congressional
committee to renew a ban on military ties between Washington and Jakarta until U.S.
authorities determine that Indonesia's government is cooperating with the FBI's
investigation into the ambush.
Indonesian and U.S. militaries severed ties in 1999 as Indonesia's military and its
militia proxies killed hundreds of people in East Timor following its vote for
independence.
But after President Bush took over the White House, an effort spearheaded by Deputy
Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz a former ambassador to Jakarta was launched to
improve relations with the armed forces. This was justified by the need to build up
Indonesia the world's largest Muslim country into a bulwark against al-Qaida
infiltration into Southeast Asia.
Indonesia occupied Papua in 1963. The region was annexed after 1,000 tribal leaders
were canvassed in a process that has been condemned as a sham. About 100,000
Papuans one-sixth of the population have died in military operations since then.
Copyright © 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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